BCA January Newsletter
Senior Spotlight: Sarah Layne
Plans after high school: To major in Pre-med at the University of Tennessee Knoxville
Accepted into: University of Tennessee Knoxville
Specific career choice: Dermatologist
Leadership roles // involvement at BHS: Treasurer & Secretary of Mu Alpha Theta, EPIC, NHS, and French Club
Capstone Project: An educational video about proper nutrition and fitness that will be shown to health science classes at Blackman High.
Why did you choose that project?: Nutrition is vital to learn because there are a myriad of preventable diseases that are caused by bad nutrition.
Favorite Teacher: Mrs. McDowell
Favorite Class: Clinical Internship; it allows you to be in the real life environment of a hospital and see what your future career would hold.
Senior Spotlight: Weston Hollins
Plans after high school: To hopefully attend the United States Military Academy at West Point and possibly major in Engineering
Colleges applied to: USMA, US Air Force Academy, US Naval Academy, UTK, Virginia Tech
Clubs involved at BHS: FCA, Timothy Club, JROTC, NHS, Drill Team, and Rifle Team
Sports involved at BHS: Cross Country, Track and Field, and Rifle Team
Leadership roles: JROTC Battalion Commander, Drill Team Commander, Raiders Team Commander.
Capstone Project: To develop a leadership program to create effective student leaders within the Blackman High School community.
Reason for project choice: It combines leadership ability with my ROTC pathway.
Mentor for project: Sergeant Major Sanders has helped with any questions he had.
Favorite Class: JROTC
Senior Spotlight: Nia Morris
Dream School: AMDA or Julliard
Colleges Applied To: AMDA, Belmont University, Illinois Wesleyan, Austin Peay, MTSU
Possible Major(s): Musical Performance or Musical Theater
Capstone: Nia's capstone is educating today's students about unfamiliar music genres. She hopes that as a result of this, students will be more culturally appreciative and improve their musicality.
Why was this capstone project chosen?: Nia sees a reoccurring problem with students choosing three main types of music genres such as: hip-hop, rap, and pop. She feels that the student body should branch out from those different genres and pick things that are more unfamiliar to them music wise.
Clubs: Theater Program, Marching Band, Rock Band
Sports: Volleyball
Leadership Roles: One of the lead vocals in rock band
Favorite Teachers: Gerald Patton, Brenda Monson, and Sherry Febles
All-Time Favorite Class: Select Chorus
Most Influential Person: Gerald Patton, because she spends a lot of time with him just talking about personal problems that she has. He is someone she can always turn to when she has a problem going on.
Senior Spotlight: Josh Miller
Plans after high school: To major in musical theatre and theatre education and also minor in communications at the university of Southern Illinois
Accepted into: Southern Illinois, University of Memphis, and Webster University
Leadership roles // involvement at BHS: Student Body Secretary, Vice President of NHS, President of EPIC, Marching Band, and Renaissance
Capstone Project: A ten-minute production that changes the genders of the characters to determine the effects of what the audience thinks of the play.
Why did you choose that project?: Central Magnet put on a similar production previously, and he was intrigued by it.
Mentor: Matt Hunter, director and choreographer at the Center for the Arts, attended the audition and helped throughout the casting process.
Favorite teacher: Mrs. Boyd
Shout-Out to the Seniors
Capstone
Upcoming Events
Registration & Early Post-Secondary Information Night
Monday, Jan 11, 2016, 06:00 PM
BHS Auditorium
Registration Suggestions for 2016-2017
- Upcoming sophomores: Honors English II, Honors Algebra II or Advanced Honors Geometry, and Honors Chemistry
- Upcoming juniors: AP English III, AP U.S. History or Dual Enrollment U.S. History, and Speech or Critical Thinking (highly recommended junior year before capstone)
- Upcoming seniors: Speech or Critical Thinking (if not already taken) and Capstone
BCA Application Timeline & Admission Interviews
- Applications due by January 13th
- Interviews conducted from January 18th-29th
- Acceptance letters mailed on February 8th
BCA Speaker Series
The Blackman High Speaker Series is in full swing! Here are the speakers for second semester:
- Wednesday, January 13th: Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland will be speaking during Prime Time (1:20 P.M.)
- Friday, January 29th: MTSU Psychology Professor and former MTSU football player Dr. Corey Teague will be speaking during Prime Time.
- Monday, February 8th: Coreen King, BHS alumna and DECA member, owner of 3 businesses, will be speaking during Prime Time in the auditorium.
- Wednesday, Feb 17th: Chris DeGeorge, Vanderbilt grad, Project Manager for Qualderm Partners in Brentwood will be speaking during Prime Time in the auditorium.
- Wednesday, March 16th: Sensei Bill Taylor from BSK Karate will be speaking during Prime Time (1:20 P.M.) in the auditorium.
- Thursday, April 14th: Mr. William Epps, Educator at Blackman High School, will be speaking during Prime Time.
If you get an idea for a future speaker, we would love to hear it! Email Mr. Seadorf at seadorfb@rcschools.net
College Game Project
Extra Help
STEM Conference at the Adventure Science Center
On Saturday, February 13th, the Adventure Science Center in Nashville is hosting the TWISTER (Tennessee Women in Science, Technology, Engineering & Research) STEM Conference for Girls.
This is a daylong professional conference for high school girls, presented by women working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Research) professions. Participants attend four, 55-minute sessions that explore a variety of STEM topics. Each presenter is eager to share details about her career with participants, answer their questions, help steer them to the right educational pathway, and give them a little taste of daily life in the workplace.
Registration is only $15 and includes lunch. Girls can register online at the following link: http://www.adventuresci.org/twister/.
Math Circle at Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt will continue their Math Circle for the spring semester. This semester they are focusing on solving non-standard problems. There will not be an entrance test this time, so all interested students will be admitted. For more information, visit http://my.vanderbilt.edu/mathcircle/.
Academic Probation
Semester grades for Fall 2015 will be checked on Jan 6. BCA students will be notified in writing if they have been placed on Academic Probation for the Spring 2016 Semester.
Also note that it is the responsibility of the BCA student to notify BCA Administrators if the student receives either ISS or OSS. BCA students have 72 hours to notify either Ken Reed, BCA Dean, or Andrea Holder, Academic and Disciplinary Committee Chairperson, of any suspensions.
Below are the policies for both Academic and Disciplinary Probation from the Collegiate Academy:
Academic Probation from the Collegiate Academy
Students in the Collegiate Academy are expected to maintain a 3.0 GPA and passing grades in all classes. If a student 's GPA falls below a 3.0 or if a student fails one or more classes, he or she will be placed on Academic Probation from the Collegiate Academy for the following semester. At the end of the probationary semester, the student's membership will be reassessed. If the reason for the probation has been corrected, he or she will be reinstated as a member in good standing. If the reason for the probation has not been corrected, he or she will be dismissed from the Collegiate Academy.
Students in the Collegiate Academy are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with Blackman High School’s Student Code of Conduct. Violations of the Code of Conduct, in which disciplinary action is taking by BHS administration, will result in one semester of Disciplinary Probation. At the end of the probationary semester, membership will be reassessed. If there have not been any additional violations of the Student Code of Conduct resulting in disciplinary action, the student will be reinstated as a member in good standing. If additional violations of the Student Code of Conduct resulting in disciplinary action have occurred, the student will be dismissed from the Collegiate Academy.
MTSU News
MTSU ID's
ATTENTION SOPHOMORES: BCA Day at MTSU
MTSU Leadership Seminar
We are excited to extend an invitation to the Blackman Collegiate Academy Juniors/Seniors. The Bridge is an opportunity for students to learn about the principles and techniques of effective leadership. We invite you to participate, AT NO COST, at the lunch and keynote speaker portion from 11:45 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 6, 2016, held on the MTSU campus in the Student Union ballroom.
Students will be able to interact with 100 or more college students, who are emerging leaders at MTSU. The keynote speaker’s topic will focus on staying motivated and following your passion. While the speaker has not yet been confirmed, we are confident that he/she will be someone you will enjoy hearing. Last year’s speaker was former NFL football player, Phillip Tanner who played for the Cowboys, Colts, Bills, and 49ers.
If you are interested in attending, please sign up by January 25, 2016. There are only 60 available spots!! You can sign up at http://goo.gl/forms/NMo2XdI1Ct.
Dual Enrollment
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Dual Enrollment program, students must:
1. be a junior or senior in high school;
2. have a minimum 3.0 high school GPA; or
3. have a minimum composite of 22 ACT (SAT composite of 1020); or equivalent ACT Plan test score
**Admission to MTSU and the Dual Enrollment program does not guarantee eligibility for all courses. Some courses require prerequisites and/or certain test subscores, including Math and English courses.
Cost
The tuition cost of a Dual Enrollment class is $166.00 per credit hour. This cost can be offset by the Dual Enrollment Grant, if the student applies and is ruled eligible. Students must maintain a 2.75 GPA for dual enrollment courses taken to stay eligible for the grant. The student should be prepared to pay the tuition cost in advance and then be reimbursed. Other anticipated costs include textbooks, $25 application fee, online course fees, and any applicable lab fees.
Dual Enrollment Grant
The total amount of grant money per student is $1200 total for their high school career. Current juniors get $500 for class one and two, which will cover the cost of a 3 hour class ($498 total per class). Current seniors were only set to get $300 for course 1 and 2, but MTSU decided to scholarship the additional $198 for the first two classes so that they too could have class one and two covered in full.
- Current seniors
Current seniors who have not taken two DE classes in the fall can still take advantage of this additional money provided by MTSU ($198) for the Spring term to cover class one and two in full. For class 3 and 4 they will receive $100 per credit hour leaving them a balance of $198 for class 3 and 4.
- Current juniors
Current juniors who have already taken two classes will receive $200 for class 3 (leaving a balance of $298) and nothing for class 4 (leaving a balance of $498).
*Although class 3 and 4 seem like a lot of out-of-pocket money, in-state undergraduate tuition cost is currently $1,011 for a 3 hours course, resulting in a savings of $513 when paying the full tuition amount for a dual enrollment course.
Textbook Rentals
BCA Contacts
Principal - Dr. Leisa Justus, justusl@rcschools.net, ext. 22901
Assistant Principal - Ken Reed, reedk@rcschools.net, ext. 22973
School Counselor - Christine Bryan, bryanc@rcschools.net. ext. 22906
Academics - Andrea Holder, holdera@rcschools.net, ext. 22960
Communication - Lois Walker, walkerlm@rcschools.net, ext. 22701
Electronic Portfolio - Ken Hardison, hardisonk@rcschools.net, ext. 22988
Extracurricular - Tim Pedigo, pedigot@rcschools.net, ext. 22995
Events - Hollye Dabney, dabneyh@rcschools.net, ext. 22738
Life Experience - Geneva Cook, cookg@rcschools.net, ext. 22942
Monthly Speakers - Brian Seadorf, seadorfb@rcschools.net, ext. 23036
Research - Rebecca Jones, jonesre@rcschools.net, ext. 22993